The Spotlight Exhibit is located by the entrance to the museum and changes every year to explore a different topic or theme. It is available to the publicat all times, with spotlighting and backlit panels making it easy to read evenduring an evening stroll around Guthrie. When not on display, each isavailable as a traveling exhibit.

BOUND TO PLEASE: A History of Corseting

Clothing has always been a way to illustrate social standing, affectedby one's political views. Corsets have been a staple of feminine dressfor centuries. They created diverse silhouettes and held positive meaningsfor women such as status, self-discipline, beauty, sexuality and their production opened a manufacturing niche for women.However, periods in history saw them decline in popularitybecause of political movements and change fromindustrialization. Activities used corsets to illustratehardships, as a symbol of women's constricted socialposition and a device to control their bodies. Corsetsquickly fell out of favor within five years of WorldWar 1 with the expansion of women's roles andgrowing women's liberation sentiment, but theirlasting effect is still evident having shaped beautyideals as they shaped the physical female body.

African-American history plays an integral role in the story of Oklahoma. The exhibit panels are titled: Why Oklahoma, Opportunity Awaits, Opportunities for Success, Establishing Communities, Local Leaders, and Approaching Statehood. The exhibit helps to tell the story of this often overlooked part of our history.

The ecology of the Oklahoma Territory provideda challenge to the ingenuity and commitmentof the settlers. With familiar building materials unavailable, settlers were forced to make duewith what was available. While some settlers imported milled lumber to build houses, many more built shelters by digging out a hillside or constructing homes made of sod. Access to essentials such as water, proximity to a market center, arable land for crops and grazing land were important considerations in deciding the ultimate location to settle.

An average family succeeded on the Great Plains by devoting sixty percent oftheir land to crop production. The original 160-acre claims slowly grew larger assome bought up land abandoned by unsuccessful settlers. Farmers took cuesfrom the natural vegetation to determine which crops could be successful in specific locations. Orchards of nut and fruit trees sprang up in areas where the Cross Timbers thrives and in close proximity to rivers. Despite a few high yield seasons, the majority of orchards failed as the climate naturally shifted into a drought cycle.

LETHAL TO INGEST: Territorial Medicine

The 19th century medical profession was weak and divided. It yielded insecure incomes, low social status and no ability to control quality of care or education level of practitioners. As the 20th century dawned, the medical, pharmaceutical and retail drugstore industries were busy drafting the anatomy of today'smedicine. Many lives were lost to disease and addition in the desperate searchfor effective medical treatments. Many patients fell victim to fraud because, in rural areas, legitimate medical treatments were difficult to identify and hard to access leaving many to rely on traveling medical shows and salesmen hawking questionable remedies.

BENDING THE RULES: Victorian Etiquette

According to Victorian Era rules of society, manners were the most valuable asset a woman could possess and the only thing appropriate for public display. Amiable women were organizersand refiners of elegant society where worthymen strived to impress. However, the turn-of-the-century provided opportunities for women to expand or reject social norms.

"A gentlewoman will be as courteous to astranger as she will be towards her servants, parents or children. She will observe all thedetails politeness demands. She must beamiable, pleasing, attractive, friendly andloving. A proper lady will be well-manneredand thoughtful of others. She must always beready with a pleasing smile or kind word. Shemust be generous and wise, which demandsa never-ending education." Quote from the Ladies Book of Etiquette - 1890

AND THE WRECKING BALL BOUNCED:Historic Preservation in Guthrie Oklahoma

What started as a simple railroad stationexploded into a bustling city on April 22, 1889.The throng of people staking claims necessitatedthe creation of four townships to accommodatethe demand for town lots. By the next evening,mounds of lumber littered the landscape and wooden skeletons eruptedfrom the red dirt. Within months, brick and stone structures markedGuthrie's emergence as a city of leaders and pioneers.

Today, the ornamented buildings continue to reinforce Guthrie's role as a distinctive entity in Oklahoma's story. As with any long fulfilling lifeof a city, some buildings survived and some were lost.